sebeta cte english language improvement centreinfo.moe.gov.et/pdf/classroom english course sebeta...

Classroom English

Sebeta CTE

English Language Improvement Centre

Course Code EnLa 106

Classroom English Sebeta CTE

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Contents Introduction ......................................................................................................... 4

Module Objectives ................................................................................................ 4

Guidelines for Managing Micro-teaching ........................................................... 5

Performance evaluation Form ........................................................................... 5

Unit One: Oral Presentation Skills & Classroom Discipline ............................ 6

Objectives ............................................................................................ 6

1.1 Oral Presentation Guidelines ............................................................... 6

Speaking in a loud clear voice ............................................................ 7

Presenting new points ......................................................................... 7

1.2 Discipline ............................................................................................. 9

Getting attention ............................................................................... 10

Praise ................................................................................................ 11

Assertiveness ................................................................................... 12

Addressing poor behaviour ............................................................... 12

Unit Two: Establishing Classroom Routines & Organising Your Class ...... 14

Objectives .......................................................................................... 14

2.1 Using English in the Classroom ........................................................ 14

2.2 Greetings .......................................................................................... 15

2.3 Opening conversations ..................................................................... 16

2.4 Starting, continuing and finishing classroom activities ...................... 17

Transition points................................................................................ 17

Checking attendance ........................................................................ 17

Introducing different steps of the lesson .......................................... 19

Time-management / Transitions ...................................................... 19

Distributing and using resources ...................................................... 20

Moving around the class .................................................................. 23

Grouping and pairing pupils ............................................................. 24

Grouping classes for tasks/games & giving instructions .................. 25

Talking about the weather ................................................................ 28

Games: Songs For Practising Weather Vocabulary ........................ 29

Game One: Listen to me ................................................................. 29

Game Two: Tropical Rainstorm ....................................................... 30

Songs and Rhymes ......................................................................... 30

Tidying the Classroom .................................................................... 31

Cleaning the Board ......................................................................... 32

Lights & Windows ........................................................................... 33

Giving instructions on reporting back .............................................. 33

Ending the lesson .......................................................................... 34

Unit Three: Questions ...................................................................................... 36

Objectives ........................................................................................ 36

3.1 Teacher Questioning ............................................................................ 36


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3.2 Reasons for Using Questions ............................................................... 36

3.3 Types of Question ................................................................................ 37

A) Yes/No Questions ........................................................................... 37

B) Negative Questions ......................................................................... 38

C) Rebound Questions ........................................................................ 40

D) ‘Or’ Questions (Alternatives Questions) .......................................... 41

E) Factual ‘WH-‘ Questions / Information Questions ........................... 42

F) Echo Questions .............................................................................. 44

G) Subject Questions .......................................................................... 45

H) Checking Questions ....................................................................... 45

I) Real Classroom Questions .............................................................. 46

Strategies to Boost Confidence in Teachers ....................................... 46

Longer Answers ................................................................................. 47

Questioning Strategies ........................................................................ 47

Questions on specific events / topics .................................................. 49

1. Asking for a Description (‘Like’) ............................................. 49

2. Asking About an Event .......................................................... 49

3. Asking for Reasons and Purposes ........................................ 50

4. Asking for Evidence ............................................................... 51

Reasoning and ‘Open’ Questions ...................................................... 51

Answers to Express Personal Feeling ............................................... 52

Idioms and Metaphors ....................................................................... 54

GLOSSARY OF TERMS & ACTIVITIES ............................................................ 55

GLOSSARY: FEELINGS AND EMOTIONS ....................................................... 57

GLOSSARY: PREPOSITIONS ........................................................................... 58

Bibliography ...................................................................................................... 59


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Introduction Let us introduce you to Classroom English EnLa (106). This course covers some of the major areas of English in the classroom which will help trainees acquire different expressions to address situations and activities that arise in the classroom. It deals with techniques of questioning and classroom organisation etc., depending on the actual classroom context and the students’ behaviours. It addresses how to establish classroom routines, perform presentations and maintain classroom discipline The most important part is through the learning activities and micro-teaching, letting students try to use the language. Guidelines for this follow. ‘Think tanks’ are included to promote active reflection by learners on their own experiences and ideas. Further grammatical explanation or vocabulary should be sought from textbooks. This module is updated for Sebeta CTE based on the original module produced by Nekemte and Robe TTC. The re-structured units aims to give training students confidence in the classroom before going on to more detailed use of English: oral work and behaviour are the most common areas of worry for student teachers and this can affect the use of English in all other areas in the classroom. This booklet includes more activities to engage directly with students as well as glossaries for student-focused activities or unfamiliar terms, represented by italics and underlining e.g. brainstorm. Jemal Abdulkadir Jane Blumer Tir 2001 / January 2008 Edited Feb 2012 David J Fenech Ministry of Education Addis Ababa, Ethiopia Module Objectives The main objectives of the course are to enable students to

• Ask questions in different ways for different situations

• Perform classroom routines effectively and with alternative expressions

• Express and organise the classroom’s physical layout

• Identify appropriate expressions to organise classes for different activities

• Answer questions using appropriate language


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Guidelines for Managing Micro-teaching Students practise their classroom English through the use of micro-teaching. The micro-teaching activity helps students support one another and reduces stage-fright about language teaching in front of a larger group or class. In these activities the teacher, the students and the language secretary play different roles. When they have finished, they have an opportunity for self-reflection. The following organisation and shared role is useful to manage and conduct effective micro-teaching activities. Trainees are organised in a group of 4. The group members are assigned as teacher, language secretary and 2 students.

• The ‘teachers’ in each group are told and shown what to do

• ‘Students’ in each group are expected to do what the ‘teachers’ actually tell them

• The language secretaries, as far as possible, write down what the ‘teachers’ say

• Upon completion of the activity, each group examines its performance in terms of language used and its effectiveness for the ‘students’, using the form prepared for this purpose

Performance Evaluation Form Name of ‘teacher’ __________________________________

Language Used

Good Points Ambiguity Created

Reasons Proposed Improvement

Each time this activity is performed, different participants in the group of 4 should take turns to play the ‘teacher’ and other roles. When all the groups have finished, they could pool their findings and share ideas for improvement with the whole group. This kind of group activity should help students support one another and help them feel less nervous about teaching in front of larger groups. When you are the ‘teacher’, you could copy what your own teacher does or try out your own ideas. There is never only one way to teach something! How can you make your teaching active for your students?


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Unit One: Oral Presentation Skills & Classroom Discipline Many students who are training to be teachers are most nervous about standing in front of a large class or coping with unruly behaviour. This is the first unit in this module so that you gain confidence and the chance to practise – and you will have similar opportunities in the other units. Unit One: Objectives By the end of this Unit you should be able to

• Understand the skills needed for confident oral presentation in the classroom

• Know a range of skills and strategies to maintain students’ interest during oral work

• Feel confident in using different strategies to address behaviour in class 1.1 Oral Presentation Guidelines As a teacher you will be required to present things to your students – in fact, this will be a large part of your students, whether new ideas, teaching grammatical points or unfamiliar vocabulary. Activity 1 Look at this list of guidelines for giving a presentation to your students. Which are good rules to follow? Tick the ones you think would help.

� Keep your voice deep and slow.

� Try to vary the pace.

� Use short sentences and simple vocabulary.

� Keep your hands in your pockets or fold arms to hide nerves.

� Tell complex jokes to liven things up a bit.

� Address your best students and ignore the rest.

� Pause occasionally to give your students time to think.

� Ask questions as you go along to check students understand you.

� Read straight from a prepared script.

� Use visual aids for example things written or drawn on the blackboard.

� Keep it short – a presentation should be 10 minutes max.

� Have follow-up exercises to check if the students understand.

Now check with a partner: do you agree? Why? Why not?

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Speaking in a loud clear voice Not only is what we say important, but also how we say it. The students must be able to hear the teacher. It is important to look at the students and speak in a loud, clear voice that is not too fast.

Activity 2 Work in groups of 3 or 4 and find a space. If possible, the main hall of the college could be used. One person should stand 5 to 6 metres (the average length of a classroom) from the other members of their group. They should then read an extract from the module. The others must check whether they can hear the speaker clearly. The person should be encouraged to carry on reading until this is the case.

• What can you praise?

• How can you offer suggestions for improvement in a way which is helpful, not too critical?

• You could try reading a passage to yourself before you read it aloud so you are familiar with the content & vocabulary and have a chance to practise your breathing

Presenting New Points Look at the following two examples of a presentation that a teacher makes for Grade 4 students. For both presentations the teacher has written these 2 sentences on the board:

1. I play football every day. 2. Yesterday I played football.

The teacher’s voice is in italics.

What advice could you offer someone who is feeling nervous about speaking in front of a group? Think about

• How you stand – feet close together or slightly apart?

• How you breathe – deep breaths or lots of smaller breaths?

• Where to look – at what? At whom?

• What to do with your hands – straight down? Arms crossed? Gestures?

TIP: Watch your own teachers – is there anything you could try copying? Is there anything you wouldn’t do?

Think Tank!

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Presentation 1

“Look at the first sentence. It has an adverb of frequency in it (‘everyday’) and it

is written in the present tense. ‘Play’ is present tense.

The second sentence is about yesterday so it is in the past. Look at the verb ‘I

played football.’ We have put an ‘-ed’ on the end. For most verbs, when we want

to write them in the past tense, we add ‘-ed’ to it.

Do you understand?”

Presentation 2

“We are going to learn today how the verb changes when we talk about the past.

Look at sentence 1. Who can read it?

[Student reads it aloud.]

When do I play football?

[Student answers ‘everyday’.]

Good. What word in the sentence is the verb, or the action word?

[Student answers ‘play’. Teacher underlines the word ‘play’.]

What tense is it?

[Student answers ‘present tense’.]

Good. Now look at sentence 2. When did I play football?

[Student answers ‘yesterday’.]

Good. Yesterday – in the past. Where is the verb in the sentence?

[Student answers ‘played’. Teacher underlines the word ‘played’.]

Now look at the verb in sentence 1 and the verb in sentence 2. What is the

difference? What have we changed?

[Student answers ‘add ‘-ed’.]

Excellent. We have added ‘-ed’ to the verb. So when we talk about the past, what

do we usually add to most verbs?

[Student answers ‘-ed’.]

Great. OK. So let’s try this out for other verbs. ‘I walk to school every day.’

Yesterday I “what?” to school?

[Student answers ‘walked’.]

Which presentation of the grammar point is better? Why? What can we learn from the better presentation?

Think Tank!


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Activity 3 You are now going to make a grammar presentation to your microteaching group.

1. Decide what you are going to present (i.e. what grammar structure) – choose something very simple that you understand well.

2. Choose a topic – something that will be of interest to your ‘students’. In the example, the structure is about how to make the past tense verbs using ‘-ed’. The topic is football.

3. Think of two example sentences which you will use to present the structure. Write these down so you don’t forget!

TIP: Keep them simple.

4. Think of the questions you will need to ask your students. You could use some ideas from the example presentations.

The presentation should last 3 to 5 minutes. If you feel very nervous, write yourself a sequence of bullet points to remember what to do and which order. Don’t write a script!

For the next lesson: 1.2 Discipline

As a teacher you will face some discipline problems. But don’t worry, even the most experienced and effective teachers have faced similar problems before! How to handle these will be covered in detail in your methodology course. It is very important to remember that any serious disciplinary problem should be dealt with in the mother tongue not English.

Microteach 1 Microteach your presentation to your group. Using the guidelines for making a presentation you decided on in Activity 1, the other members of your group need to give the ‘teacher’ feedback:

• Which guidelines did the ‘teacher’ keep?

• Which didn’t he/she keep?

• What did you like about the presentation?

• What didn’t you like?

• What one thing did you like best and would recommend to other people?

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This section simply looks at some basic language to use in the classroom for getting attention, praising children and minor disciplinary problems. Getting attention You will need some simple phrases in English to draw attention to yourself before you speak. If you have a quiet voice you could supplement speech with gestures, clapping, etc. Useful Language:

• Settle down and pay attention.

• Quiet please.

• I’m waiting for you to be quiet.

• Everyone listen.

• Stop talking now.

• 1, 2, 3 – look at me / 1, 2, 3 – eyes on me The last point has rhymes which you can teach children and which act as a signal for them to stop working, be quiet and look at you. Much misbehaviour by students is simply trying to get the teacher’s attention. In fact, by giving them the attention, you may be actually encouraging them to

What tips have you learned from this section (so far) on how to look and sound confident to students? You might find it helpful to discuss how you felt during the micro-teaching exercise with other people in your group:

• If you felt nervous, how did you try to hide it?

• If you were confident, what helped you?

Which of the above would you use in your own teaching? In pairs, discuss: Which of these do you think is better? Why?

• To praise the students who are being quiet straight away?

• To reprimand the students who are not paying attention straight away?

Think Tank!

Think Tank!


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misbehave more. It is often better to pay attention to students who are behaving by praising them (‘positive reinforcement’). In doing this you are teaching children that to get your attention they have to be good. Praise Praise is an important part of any classroom. It can motivate students to do better, give recognition to effort or achievement – and it can also play a part in managing poor behaviour. Activity 4

1. Look at three ways of praising students for being quiet. Which do you think is best? Why?

Well done. Well done, Alemu. Well done, Alemu, for putting your hand up. What does the third phrase imply ‘and not…’?

2. What other behaviour might a teacher want to praise? Discuss in a pair and write a list.

NOTE: Praise should be specific:

a. To the person by saying her/his name b. To the action by saying what they have done well

Adjectives for describing when someone has done something well:

Good! Super! Well done! Excellent! Very good! Great!

NOTE: ‘Very well’ is only usually used as an adverb in part of a whole

sentence, not an individual exclamation. You wouldn’t say,

X “Great, Jemal. Very well!” but you could say � “Great, Jemal. You did that very well!”

Activity 5

What could you say to a student if they did the following?

• Gave a good answer to a question

• Worked hard during the lesson

• Paid attention and stopped work when you told them to

• Did a high-quality assignment

• Spoke in a loud, clear voice

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Assertiveness When you give someone a command (e.g. ‘Stop fighting, Asefa’) or praise them, it is not just what you say but how you say it that matters. It is important to give your commands in an assertive manner. Look at the following pieces of advice. Which do you think are good advice for speaking in an assertive manner?

• Look at the student in the eyes

• Shout

• Speak slowly and clearly

• Wave your finger at the student

• Say ‘Thank you’ after giving the instruction TIP: Saying ‘thank-you’ is a good technique because it implies that you expect them to follow your command. Addressing Poor Behaviour Sometimes ignoring particular behaviour is effective but when you have to comment on poor behaviour, it’s important to be specific. You may not always want to point out one student in particular – especially if you are thinking of someone with low self-esteem – and could generalise by addressing a group or area in the classroom.

• What do we mean by ‘assertive’?

• What is the difference between ‘assertive’ and ‘aggressive’?

• What is an ‘assertive manner’? How can you be assertive?

Think Tank!

Microteach 2 In your microteaching group, practise using phrases to praise good behaviour. You might then discuss any difficulties you found in ignoring the bad behaviour. ‘Students’ – remember to act your part!


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Expressions for Classroom Discipline Name… Boys… Girls… That corner… By the window...

No… No more… Stop… You shouldn’t be…

… playing around … … talking … … chatting … … being silly* ... … shouting … … disturbing others … … behaving like that* … … speaking like that* … … passing notes … … turning around … … talking while I’m / others are talking …

… thank you!

Remember, be specific – target the behaviour, not the student.

Activity 6

1. Practise saying these above phrases to a partner in an assertive manner. 2. In your micro-teaching groups, role-play the following scenarios. For each

one, one of you is the named student. Remember to be assertive!

a. Chalfu is not paying attention. b. Kebede is standing up. c. Benya has just completed a very good piece of work. d. Ali has turned around and is no longer looking at you. e. Bilise has his feet on the desk. f. Binigam has just answered a question well. g. Fariol is copying answers from someone else. h. Yassin is playing on his mobile phone*. i. Balcha has just helped his neighbour. j. Alama and Bulcha are arguing about sharing a book.

* Mobile phones: Will you have a ground rule in your class about phones being switched off?

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Notes & vocabulary


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Unit Two: Establishing Classroom Routines & Organising

Your Class Unit Two Objectives By the end of this unit you should be able to

• Use different phrases to start, continue and finish classroom activities

• Use appropriate greetings in the classroom

• Open conversations using neutral topics

• Continue conversations by showing interest

• Use appropriate partings

• Properly introduce yourself

• Properly introduce others 2.1 Using English in the Classroom If you use English in the classroom for simple, everyday greetings, organisation or enquiry, you are

�� Using language for a real purpose. �� Giving students the opportunity to become familiar with English. �� Showing students that English can be used for practical things. �� Giving students the chance to show they understand and build their self-

confidence. It is very easy to use the mother tongue when giving instructions for learners. It is also often quicker and easier. But your aim is to teach them English, not to be quick. At first, while telling them what to do in English, you can use gestures and demonstrate what you want them to do. To start with, it is fine to explain what something means in the mother tongue but as they become familiar with the English phrase, try not to use that and rely on the students to remind each other of the meaning. Tips to Help Learners Gain Confidence in English

• Give students a place to write new vocabulary such as in the back of their books.

• Write frequently-used phrases or vocab to display on the wall.

• Challenge students to invent ‘mnemonics’ or ways of remembering words or phrases – acronyms, rhymes and riddles can all help.

• Make sure you include opportunities in your lesson for your pupils to ask what something means – sometimes it is useful to keep a small dictionary so you can check things yourself – you don’t have to know everything and it’s good to model learning for your students!

HELP!


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Your pupils need to understand just enough to follow your instructions but they don’t need to speak yet! Each time you use questions or give instructions in English you are giving your students the opportunity to acquire the language and absorb the sounds and patterns of the language naturally and without stress. 2.2 Greetings Establishing a rapport with your students is essential to promote a positive learning environment. One way of doing this is in your initial greeting in a lesson. Tt 2.1 Activity 7

1. Look at the following script, and then discuss the questions in groups of 4.

Teacher: Good afternoon everybody. Students: Good afternoon, sir. Teacher: Well, how are you all today? Students: Fine, thank you, and you? Teacher: Very well, thank you. And what about you, Kedir? Kedir: I’m very well, thank you, sir. Teacher: Good.

• What are they talking about?

• How do you know?

• What effect does this have on students? Why? • Were your group comments similar to this?

“In the script, the teacher and his students exchanged greetings before

the teacher began teaching. When I begin my teaching, I will begin by greeting my students”

If your discussion covered these points, give each other a high five!

What does your teacher usually do when he/she enters the classroom

to begin an English lesson? What does your teacher expect the students to say? Do any other teachers do something similar?

• Tell a partner about a teacher you liked from your primary or secondary school. How did they start lessons? What difference did this make to you as a learner?

Think Tank!

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2. How many greetings can your group identify, which mean similar things? Either rally in pairs OR write down the greetings as a brainstorm. Then compare with other groups.

• Good morning / good afternoon • Hello, students

• ... (Hint: use a phrase-book or thesaurus if you are stuck.) MT 7 2.3 Opening conversations Gaining students’ attention is also important. You can also use questions or imperatives, such as in the examples below, to call your students’ attention before you begin the main lesson of the day. This can also help to establish your authority in the class if you are feeling nervous. Examples:

1. What did you do last night? 2. What did you do yesterday after school? 3. What did you do on the weekend? 4. Tell me what you did on the weekend. Activity 8

What could you say to your class if…?

a. …it was the first time that you had met them? b. …one of your students had her hair cut?

c. …one of the boys had a new shirt on?

Compare your ideas with a partner – what different suggestions do you each have?

Microteach 3 Follow the microteaching guidelines at the beginning of the module to practise greeting your ‘students’. Think about:

o Your tone of voice o Facial expression o Body language

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2.4 Starting, Continuing And Finishing Classroom Activities At certain times during your lessons, for example at the start of a different activity or a new stage in the lesson, you will need to call all your students to attention and make sure they are listening. Transition Points Native speaking teachers commonly use words like ‘OK!’, ‘Right!’, ‘Now…’ and ‘All right.’ These words are sometimes called marker words because they mark places in the lesson timescale (or classroom dialogue) when something new is going to happen. Each of these examples is linked to a question or imperative which moves to a new stage of the lesson:

1. OK, is everyone ready? 2. Now, let’s all turn to face the front. 3. Right, I want you to watch Assafa and Emebet 4. All right, everyone. Pencils down and listen.

Tt 2.2 Checking Attendance When you are taking the register, you may need to comment or ask questions. In the example dialogue, the teacher does not just take the names: Teacher: Let’s see if everyone’s here. Are you listening? Students: Yes Sir / Teacher / Madam Teacher: Right! Halima? Student: Yes Teacher: Ali? Does anyone know where Ali is? Is he absent? Student: I don’t know; perhaps he’s ill. Teacher: Yes, he might be. Alright. Gemachu?

Microteach 4 Follow the microteaching guidelines at the beginning of the module to practise opening conversations with your ‘students’. How can you then close the conversation (without seeming rude!) to move on to the lesson proper?

Try to notice how your different teachers move from one point to the next in a lesson, i.e. from one activity to another. You could jot down useful phrases – or see if you can think of some alternatives yourself.

Think Tank!


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Activity 9 In pairs, discuss:

1. What different things does the teacher cover in this dialogue? See if you can identify the purpose of each teacher sentence.

2. What sorts of information might you wish to comment on, or ask about?

• List the different subjects you may need to ask about

• With a partner, think about and the phrases you could use with your class to let them know you want them to stop chatting and call the register. You could use some ideas from the example, or brainstorm, or write a list.

• Think, too, about the sorts of comments that may occur naturally when you are taking the register at the beginning of the lesson.

Remember, not all teachers take the register in the same way, or at the same time in a lesson!

3. These examples all introduce the roll-call in a lesson. What makes each one effective? How? Do you have any other suggestions?

• Right, I’m going to call the roll.

• Now! I’ll take the register.

• OK! Listen while I call your names.

• Quiet, now, please. Let’s see who is absent.

• Now! Let’s see if everyone’s here.

• Is anybody absent?

The following phrases can be used to check the reason or duration of an absence. (Possible responses are given in brackets.) 1. Does anyone know where Kedija is? 2. Dereje, do you know where Halima and Ali are? (No, I’m sorry…) 3. Who knows when Helen will be back? 4. Can anyone tell me when Haile will be at school? 5. Bontoo, can you tell me when Dula will return? (Perhaps he…)

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Microteach 5 Follow the microteaching guidelines at the beginning of the module to practise taking the register with your ‘students’. Then, working as a group of 4, prepare a short role-play based on checking attendance.

• The ‘teacher’ needs to show what is happening

• Try to include a range of responses from students – maybe not everyone is there, or perhaps someone forgets to answer!

• How can the ‘teacher’ keep attention during this mini-activity? What could the teacher do to show authority without being bossy or strict?


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Introducing Different Steps Of The Lesson As you will know from your planning, there are different stages within a lesson; 45 minutes or an hour can often be divided into 4 or 5 separate sections:

• Starter / warm-up – quick brain activity linked to lesson objectives

• Introduce main topic

• Main activity

• Development

• Plenary – what have we learned today? Check lesson objectives Each section may deal with different aspects of one topic, or move from revision to presentation of new ideas and concepts then practice one of the newly-learned ideas by the student �� How do you move from one stage to the next? Look at the following examples on the topic of ‘Revision’

1. Alright! Who can remember what we did last time? 2. Now, can you tell me what we practised last time? 3. OK! Who can tell me what we learned in our last lesson? 4. Let’s go over yesterday’s lesson, shall we? 5. Before we move on, let’s revise the ideas we learnt yesterday.

Reflection or revision of the learning so far helps students to consolidate what they already know before introducing the next topic. It also gives them a chance to ask questions or clarify anything they were unsure about – and teachers can use this to assess how well students understood or learned the teaching in the previous lesson. Time-Management / Transitions: Moving From One Stage of a Lesson To Another By using discourse markers teachers can structure their lesson to show learners what will happen when. This can help weaker learners or remove anxiety; it can also show more able learners what is coming up e.g. an exciting activity or better opportunity for asking questions.


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Activity 10 Look at these examples: First, we’re going to practice this. Then I want you to learn something new. Later, we’re going to make up a story.

�� How many adverbs of time / frequency do you already know? Rally your ideas with a partner.

From the table below, use one phrase from each column to create a descriptive sentence you could use in class:

Time / Conditional Subject & Aux Verb

Activity (Main Verb)

First… Then… Later (on)… In half an hour… Near the end of the

lesson… Perhaps… If there is time… At the end of the lesson… If you’re good… When we’ve finished this… Now…

…we’re going to… …I want you to… …we'll (we will)… …you can… …I shall…

…practise this …learn something new …tell a story …explain to a friend …do some reading …draw a diagram …write some instructions …play a game …sing a song …go over it again

1. How many statements can you create? 2. Can you add any extra phrases to any columns?

Distributing and Using Resources You may need to use books or other resources in your lesson. As well as distributing these around the class you may need to direct students on how you want them to be used (e.g. shared) or where they should look (e.g. which page / chapter.) Activity 11

1. In pairs, read the different sets of teacher’s instructions (a-e) then answer the questions (i-vi) which follow. Try reading aloud to practise your fluency in turns:

a. Take your books out of your bags … Has everyone got them out? … good … Now turn to page 37

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b. Here are the books … Take one and pass them on … Has everyone got one? … good … Now turn to page 37

c. Abraham, can you hand out the books … thank you … has

everyone got one? … good, well done … now turn to page 37

d. Martha, please can you hand out the books? I’m afraid there isn’t enough for one each so it’s one between three … thank you … can everyone see a book? … good … now turn to page 37

e. OK, take your books out of your bags, please … has everyone got

theirs? … Samuel and Eden, you don’t have a book … you will have to share with your neighbours … now turn to page 37

i. In which sequence do the students own their books? How do you know?

ii. In which sequence do the students have to share books? Which phrase tells you this?

iii. In which dialogue are the books not handed out by a single person? What tells you this?

iv. In each of the dialogues, the teacher asks something before she tells the students to turn to page 37. Why do you think this is?

v. What is the difference in the question the teacher asks in dialogue (d.)?

vi. What is the difference between sequence (a.) and sequence (e.)? What does the teacher do to overcome this problem?

2. Copy the table below and complete it with the relevant language

instruction. You may have other ideas to add yourself.

What The Teacher Wants Command The Teacher Gives

• Books out of bags

• Books open at page 55

• A student to pass the books around

• Books to be passed out between students

• Worksheets/books to be shared 1 per 2 students

• Worksheets/books to be shared 1 per 5 students

• Two particular students to share a book/hand-out

• …

• Take your…

•

•

•

•

•

•

• …


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Useful language for using a textbook:

• Turn over to the next page

• Turn back to the previous page �� Notice that this gives the direction (over/back) as part of the verb, as well as telling students where they should turn to in the book Activity 12 The following are vocabulary items that you find in a textbook.

Article (on/about) Cartoon Contents Crossword Diagram (of)

Dialogue Exercises (on) Extract (from) Glossary Title

Illustration (of) Index Table Interview (with) List Map (of)

Passage (about) Photograph (of) Picture (of) Questions Statistics

1. Look at a text book and see if you can find an example of each of the

items above. 2. Write a list of the items and draw a small picture for each one.

3. Game: Find Me

You will need a set of text books to play this i.e. one per small group.

• Students are in teams of 3 to 5 with 1 or more text books per team

• The teacher looks through the exercise book and calls out various instructions – if this is prepared in advance then it makes the game quicker e.g. Find me the article about… Find me the illustration of… Find me the exercise on…

• Students have to scan the book and the first group to shout out the correct page gets the point

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� This game can also be played in microteaching groups or slightly larger, with one of the students acting as the teacher – how could you adapt it?

� How can ‘teachers’ make sure that each student is fully involved?

You might consider giving people different roles in each small group – what could they be?

Think Tank!


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Moving Around The Class Sometimes you will need to re-organise your classroom or direct students to different places:

Sitting Down & Standing Up Moving Around

• Come in please and sit down.

• OK, sit down now please.

• OK – everyone sit down quietly.

• Martha, sit down over there, with

your friend.

• Asefa, sit here please.

• Alemu, turn around and face the

front.

• OK everyone, stop talking now and

listen carefully.

• Right, everyone please stand up.

• Stand still! Don’t move!

• Stay in your places / Stay where

you are.

• Right, Heilu, can you come here.

• OK, your group – come to the front of

the class.

• Right now, Alemu, Asefa and Zenebe…

come over here.

• Now stand in line / get in a line / line up.

• I want you to make two lines along here.

• Like this, one behind the other.

• Let’s see… move up / go back a bit…

good… that’s nice and straight.

• Can you make a circle? A nice round

circle.

• Not too close… stand a bit further apart

/ stand closer… that’s better!

• Yassin, come forward… yes, that’s it.

• OK, thank you. Now go back to your

places.

Activity 13 What gestures could you use with the underlined directions in the table above?

• Decide in your microteaching group and demonstrate to the class.

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Microteach 6 In your microteaching groups, take it in turns to teach ‘students’ parts of a textbook

• Try using a diagram on the board to support teaching new vocabulary

• What could you do to help yourself remember unfamiliar words when teaching to other people?


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Grouping And Pairing Pupils Read the following dialogue where the teacher groups his students: Teacher: Now, to do this, I want you in groups. In fours, please. Groups of four. So, look, you two turn around so you can talk to the two behind you. Students: Please, er --- what---? T: Look, turn around, so you can see Kuma, Ali and Halima. Ss: OK T: Good. That’s right. Now everyone else do the same. All of you make groups like this one. You four, and you over there, together. Turn right round. That’s it, well done. Ss: Please, not four, only three. T: Oh, only three of you, I see; well, three is fine. It doesn’t matter Tt 2.4

How is the teacher organising students in this dialogue? What is

effective? What was not effective? What phrases would you use in your

own classroom? Can you think of any alternatives?

Think Tank!

Microteach 7 Take it in turns to be the teacher. Remember, the teacher should always be standing. Follow the microteaching guidelines at the beginning of the module to practise the following classroom routines. ‘Students’, remember to play your part convincingly!

• Getting the class to come in and sit down quietly

• Getting a child to turn around and face you

• Getting the class to stand up and make one straight line

• Getting a student to come to the front of the class

• Getting the class to stand up and make two lines

• Getting the class to make a wide circle with big gaps between each student

• Getting the class to make a tight circle with no gaps between students How will you make your wishes clear to students whose English is weak?


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Here are some phrases to help you organize and direct your students.

Organising Desks and Chairs

Could you please sit in groups of… Turn your chairs to face the board / the window / your partner Could you straighten your desks like… Please would you move your desks to… / backwards / forwards

Check that you understand the prepositions (in front of / behind / next to etc. (See glossary at the back.) Try drawing very simple stick men diagrams to help you remember.

Useful Phrases For Grouping Students

• I want you in pairs, please, in twos, with your neighbours.

• We’re going to work in groups. Get into fours, please.

• Turn round and face your neighbour …

• Move forward and look at the person next to you …

For Adding Someone To A Group

• Are you by yourself? Let’s add you to…

• If you haven’t anyone to work with, let me know

• Look, you can move up and make a three

• This group could have another person in it; I’m going to put Johannes with you three

• If you can turn around, she can join in with you. It doesn’t matter if you’re a five.

Grouping Students For Tasks/Games & Giving Instructions Useful language for grouping students: choose one phrase from each box – how many different sentences can you make?

Gain Attention Explanation Group Detail

Are you ready? Ok, everybody So, now, everybody… Quiet please! Listen carefully…

You’re going to do this… You’re going to work… You will be playing this…

… in pairs / twos … in threes … in fours … in groups of…


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Useful Language For Games

• Get into groups of three/four/five

• Whose turn is it?

• You can have three guesses

• The first team to give the correct answer gets a point

• Hands up, no shouting out

• You lose a point if the answer is wrong

• Let’s count up the points to see who the winner is

• Give the winners a clap / Three cheers for the winner

How does each phrase organise a game / activity?

To Give Instructions On What Students Will Do In Their Groups

• In your pairs, I’d like you to practise that dialogue

• In your group, you are going to write a short paragraph about tourism in Ethiopia.

• We’re going to take it in turns to say one idea and we’ll start with the person who has the shortest name.

• All those on the left, you are Kedir, you take Kedir’s part.

Those of you on the right ask questions and those on the left answer them

MT 10

Microteach 8 Follow the microteaching guidelines at the beginning of the module: using

an example topic (e.g. Writing about Ethiopia), practise putting students into

groups and setting an activity

• Think in advance about what size of group you want or what activity

you will do. This will help you feel more confident in organising your

‘students’.

• If your group identifies other useful phrases, jot them down so you

have a record for next time (or planning real classes!)

• Remember to keep it positive.

• Make sure you leave enough time for reflection and discussion for

improvement.

o What went well? What could you change? Ideas?

o What could you do if two students don’t get on together?

o What can you say if you want a different grouping?


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Activity 14

1. Match the phrases below with the functions they perform. There may be more than one phrase for some functions:

Language Functions

1. First I want you to make up a story.

A. Dividing the class into groups.

2. Can anyone tell us what we did last lesson?

B. When you want a student to join a group.

3. We’re going to work in fours. C. Asking for feedback from groups.

4. In your pairs, practice that dialogue.

D. Setting homework.

5. Look, you move up and make 3. E. Finishing group activities.

6. Quiet, please! Let’s hear how you have been getting on.

F. Moving from one stage of the lesson to another.

7. Right, we’ll stop there. G. Instructing students what to do in groups.

8. Your assignment for tonight is to write this dialogue.

2. The teacher thinks of various examples to check these phrases:

• The teacher wants the books given out by 1 student.

• The teacher wants all the students’ chairs moved so they can see her.

• The teacher wants books and pencils in bags.

• The teacher wants students reading p32.

In pairs, discuss what commands need to be used. Then, as a whole group, one student stands / comes to the front and plays the teacher giving the command. The rest of the class see if they agree.

• Practise giving the command in a clear, loud voice

• ‘Students’ must do what the ‘teacher’ says…even if it’s not what he/she meant!

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3. True/False Game: This is something you could play with your own class! In

these games a teacher says a sentence related to the topic which might be true or false

E.g. Topic: Animals Teacher Fish can climb trees.

Giraffes have a short neck. The students have to respond to the sentences depending on whether they are true or false:

If it is true… If I’m right…

…clap once, like this: …nod your head, like this …shout out ‘yes!’ …put one hand up …stand up

If it is not true… If it is false… If I’m wrong…

…clap twice, like this: …shake your head, like this …shout out ‘no’ …put two hands up …sit down

You might consider how these responses could be useful for other activities, teaching or topics in your own class.

Talking About The Weather The weather is often a topic of conversation in English. You may comment on this when greeting students at the start of a lesson.

Microteach 9 Follow the microteaching guidelines at the beginning of the module to practise teaching a true/false game. Use a familiar topic (food, sport, nature, Ethiopia, etc.) and make sure that your instructions for the students’ response are very clear

How can you help students to remember the different instructions?

If the teacher asks her students, “What’s the weather like today?”, how many possible replies can you think of? Try listing them.

Think Tank!


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Useful Expressions:

Rain and Cloud It’s cloudy. I think it’s going to rain. It’s spitting. (little drops of rain) It’s drizzling. (light, cloudy rain) It’s only a shower. (short burst of rain) It’s pouring with rain. (heavy rain)

Hot and sunny What a beautiful day! The sun is shining. It’s boiling hot. There are no clouds in the sky. It’s lovely and warm today.

Storm Look at the black clouds. There’s going to be a storm. Can you hear the thunder? Did you see the lightning? It’s hailing!

Cold and windy It’s freezing cold! It’s very windy. It’s blowing a gale! It’s breezy today. (light wind) Brrrr, I’m chilly!

Games and Rhymes / Songs For Practising Weather Vocabulary You may want to play some weather games with your class. Decide for yourself whether these would be good for students to do: Game One: Listen to Me You need to teach actions for each type of weather It’s sunny Pretend to take off your jersey It’s cloudy and cold Pretend to put on your jersey It’s raining Pretend to put up your umbrella It’s hailing (ice) Pretend to shiver (shake) as if cold There’s thunder Pretend to be frightened and lightning The teacher gets the students to stand up. The teacher calls out different weather. The children, standing, must do the actions for that weather. If anyone gets it wrong then he/she is out and must sit down. The teacher goes faster and faster:

“It’s sunny. Now it’s cloudy. It’s raining. It’s hailing. Be careful, thunder and lightning. It’s raining. It’s sunny again. It’s raining, cloudy, sunny, thunder and lightning, etc.”

If your students are confident, one of them could come to the front and be the ‘teacher’ and call out the weather. They could also play the game in small groups. Teacher Language for Introducing the Game:

“We are going to play a game. Stand up.” “If I say type of weather) you must all [teacher shows them action] “Everybody copy me”

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Game Two: Tropical Rainstorm Together, children make a tropical rainstorm

1. The teacher leads by rubbing his/her hands together and says It is windy.

All the children must do the same action.

2. The teacher then adds another action (e.g. clicking fingers and saying It is

raining / Clapping hands saying There is thunder / Slapping knees and

stamping saying It is hailing.)

3. The students always follow the teacher’s actions.

4. The whole class should be stamping and clapping together.

5. The teacher then does all the actions in reverse (stamping / slapping

knees / clapping / clicking fingers / rubbing hands) becoming quieter and

quieter to show the storm dying down. The teacher ends the storm with the

words It is sunny. Then there should be silence.

6. At each stage, the students should copy the teacher exactly.

7. You could ask students to say the same words as you – how could you

vary the tone or pitch of your voice for the different parts of the ‘storm’?

8. Students could make their own storm performance in small groups.

Songs and Rhymes Many students enjoy putting actions to songs and rhymes. How could you use these in the class?

It’s raining, it’s pouring! It’s raining, it’s pouring The old man is snoring He went to bed And bumped his head And couldn’t get up in the morning!

I hear thunder! I hear thunder, I hear thunder Do you too? Do you too? Pitter patter raindrops Pitter patter raindrops I’m wet through So are you!

Where is the rain? (for advanced learners) The giraffe and the elephant went for a walk. They stopped in some shade and started to talk; “I wish it would rain,” said the giraffe with a sigh. “I’m tired of watching clouds passing us by.” “Yes,” said the elephant, “Where is the rain? I wish I could eat fresh green leaves again. The sun is so hot and the land is so dry; When will the rain fall down from the sky?” Later in the day the sky turned grey, The flying ants flew out to warn and to say, “The rain is coming! We smell in the air! And in the distance, thunder we hear!” The giraffe and the elephant looked up at the sky And heard the black eagle give forth his cry: “The rain has come, the rivers will flow; The dry season is over; now the grass will grow!”

Rain, rain, go away! Rain, rain, go away; Come again another day! The sun has got his hat on! The sun has got his hat on Hip hip hip hooray! The sun has got his hat on And he’s coming out to play.

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• Where could you add actions?

• How can you make this a learning activity?

• Are there any other weather rhymes, songs or stories that you know? Teacher Talk: Singing a Song

• We’re going to sing a song …

• I’ve written the words on the board …

• Let’s read the words line by line. Now follow me.

• Just the boys sing / just the girls sing …

• Let’s see if we can sing it louder

Tidying the Classroom Keeping your classroom tidy is important for setting high standards and expectations. It will also help you maintain resources in a good condition and demonstrate that you value order, as well as establishing a calm atmosphere for students to work in. Activity 15 In groups of 4, brainstorm all the different ways that a classroom can be untidy e.g. Paper on the floor, chalkboard dusty, etc. Share these with the teacher and the rest of the class. Then write all the different ways you have all thought of in a table like the one below. Try to fill in the other column by writing an instruction that the teacher could give on how to tidy it: A Way the classroom is untidy Teacher instruction

• Paper on the floor

• Chalkboard dusty

• Please pick up that piece of paper

MT15

Microteach 10 Follow the microteaching guidelines at the beginning of the module to practise introducing a song, game or rhyme to a class.

• How will you include reluctant students?

• How can you use mime to help explain the meaning?

• When might you want to use this sort of activity in your own class?

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Microteach 11 In the area where your group is, make it untidy. Follow the microteaching guidelines at the beginning of the module to practise giving instructions to tidy it up

• Use Please + imperative (command) + object to tidy

• Remember that your tone of voice and body language will help with this!


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Cleaning The Board Activity 16 As well as needing the board to be clean for practical reasons, this provides a way of involving students in the lesson. Look at the following table. By using one phrase from each column you can create instructions: “Please can you clean the blackboard, Martha? Use a duster sponge You need to go and make the sponge wet.” Just clean Don’t clean Leave Please could you rub

off… Please would you

wipe off…

…this… …that… …these… …the…

… half… … section … … part … … bit … … sentences … … answers … … drawings … … words…

… please. … thank you. … at the top / bottom? … on left / right?

1. If you are not sure about all the vocabulary in the table, draw a quick diagram to remind yourself.

2. Your teacher will divide the board into four parts. (You could do this as a microteaching activity instead.)

A

C

B

D

The teacher reads out various examples and the students give example instructions or requests. What should the teacher say?

e.g. The whole board needs to be cleaned. Section A & D of the board need to be cleaned. The teacher wants section C, which has the answers, left alone.

Discuss in pairs which command or request should be used. One student comes to the front, or points from his/her place, to show which part should be cleaned or left alone and the rest of the class see if they agree.

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• How could you turn this into a game by swapping roles around? Who could take over the ‘teacher’ role?

• Think about how clearly you practise giving the instruction!

Think Tank!


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Lights & Windows Look at the following phrases: Please can you… Please would you…

… switch off … … turn off … …switch on … …turn on …

…the lights? …the plug?

Please can you… Please would you…

…open … … close …

… the door? … the window(s)?

By using one phrase across each box to ask a question, you are actually able to give a command. You can also ask the class their preference e.g. if you need to check that they can see the board: Do you want… Would you like…

… the door … … the windows … … the lights

…open or closed? … on or off?

Activity 17 Test yourself: Read the following situations and write what the teacher should say. The first one is shown as an example:

1. It’s getting dark and the teacher wants the lights on Can you please turn on the lights? 2. It’s cold and the windows are open 3. There are pencils on the floor 4. The teacher wants to know if the class wants the door open 5. It’s hot and the door and windows are closed 6. The light is on but the teacher wants to save electricity 7. The chalkboard is dirty 8. The seats in the class are dusty

Giving Instructions on Reporting Back When students have done their group activity, sometimes it is useful to ask them to report back (though of course this depends on the activity.)

• You could use a question: “Will this group tell us their main ideas?”

• You could use a statement: “This group will tell us their main ideas.”

• You could use an imperative: “This group – tell us your main ideas.”

• The advantage of using a command (imperative) is that it’s more direct!

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Example phrases:

• OK, that was good. Now let’s hear what some of you have done. The group on the left will start.

• Stop now! Well done! That is enough. Now we’ll listen to each group in turn. Let’s hear this group first.

• I think we’ll stop there; that’s great; you’ve done enough of that.

• Right, super, we’ll stop doing this now – it’s time you finished.

Ending the lesson Giving a neat end to a lesson is important and it can help create a sense of order or planning for your students. Tip: make sure you have the same number of items that you had at the beginning of the lesson if you lend scissors, pens etc. Activity 18 Look at the following phrases to set homework or end the lesson:

“At home, not now, do the exercises on page 9.” “Tonight, for your homework, practise the exercise on page 30.” “Good, well done.” “Pack your books up.” “Pass the papers to the front.” “Please collect the work.” “Right, you may go.” “Goodbye.”

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Look at how the teacher is speaking to the students:

� Praise � Clear instructions � Simple English vocabulary

Think Tank!

• What different activities need to be directed by the teacher at the end of a lesson?

• Which objects need to be put away / collected? In pairs, rally a quick list of items found in a classroom that the teacher might need to hand out or which students may need to remove from their bag.

Think Tank!


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1. Copy the phrases then underline the imperative before checking with your neighbour. Have you both identified the same things? (Tip: look for the verb!)

2. How could you adapt the phrases to include praise for your students?

3. Write a script for yourself and an imaginary class to end a lesson to cover

the last 5 minutes. You could write 2 different scenarios depending on the time of day / students / activities / different responses to your instructions etc.

• How could you include instructions on leaving the room? To tidy? Chairs? Windows? Paper on the floor? Etc.

• Notice that you can make a command polite by adding ‘please’.

Notes & Vocabulary


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Unit Three: Questions Unit Three Objectives By the end of this Unit students should be able to

• Identify the purpose of questions in the language classroom

• Understand appropriate strategies for questioning

• Ask different types of questions fluently

• Ask questions that promote speaking by students 3.1 Teacher Questioning One way of managing interactions in the classroom is by asking appropriate questions. There are times when language teachers can cause confusion by asking inappropriate or unclear questions. Asking questions can take up a large proportion of the teacher’s time. The questions the teacher asks can be roughly divided into those requiring factual or opinion-based answers. The factual questions can be answered by the teacher although pupils are expected to do so. These questions may include questions such as ‘What is the past tense of to sing?’, ‘Is this right?’, ‘What is the answer to number 6?’ or comprehension questions such as ‘What is Ato Lemma doing in picture 1?’ or ‘When does W/ro Halima go to work?’ The second type of question consists of lesson progress questions and opinion/preference questions. Lesson progress questions include ‘Has everyone got a book?’, ‘Are you ready?’ and ‘Can you all see?’ Opinion / preference questions include ‘What did you think of that song?’, ‘Do you agree with Abebe?’ and ‘Who is your favourite singer?’ It is probably true to say that comprehension questions predominate in the language classroom. Experience also suggests that asking questions is a source of recurrent difficulty for students perhaps because of an unclear purpose or poor phrasing by teachers, or students’ own comprehension. 3.2 Reasons for Using Questions TT1.1

Why do you ask questions in the language classroom? Discuss in pairs.

With a partner, see how many different reasons you can brainstorm for asking questions in the language classroom.

Think Tank!


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During your discussion, you may have considered that, in general terms, the main reason for questioning is to facilitate learning and to promote interaction in the classroom. We can identify many reasons. The list below is not exclusive: 1. To find out something from the learners: The teacher may wish to obtain

certain information from students such as facts, ideas or opinions. For example the teacher might ask what his/her students like or dislike; how students would react to a story, etc.

2. To check or test understanding, knowledge or skills: This is one of the most common reasons, and in a few minutes in a lesson you can easily observe how often teachers use questions for assessment to make sure their students have understood the point under discussion. For example, when we present new vocabulary or structure, we can check that students have understood by using the new language in a question.

3. To maintain learners’ active participation in their learning: Teachers may also ask questions when moving around the classroom to keep learners involved in a lesson or activity. This could help learners stay focused (awake!), participating more fully, or answering questions that are specifically directed at individual students – this helps keep students alert.

4. To direct attention to the topic being learned: Questions may help students focus on a topic more deeply or stimulate greater curiosity.

5. To stimulate thinking and probe more deeply into issues: The use of well-thought out questions in the form of puzzle or problems, or arising from discussion, can engage students in more meaningful thinking and mental exercise. As a result, students may be encouraged or motivated to become more logical, reflective and imaginative. This is an example of higher-order questioning.

3.3 Types of Question This section discusses how teachers might use various types of questions. ‘Closed questions’ give a narrow choice of answer whereas ‘open questions’ invite the respondent to give their own thoughts or opinions. Closed questions are often used to find out factual information or may have a right/wrong answer.

A) Yes/No questions These questions are so called because their answers are either ‘yes’ or ‘no.’ They can be useful for finding out a factual response or assessing how much learners have understood in a lesson.

With a partner, ask these questions and think about how you respond

1. Do you drink tea?

2. Can he play football?

3. Will they come tomorrow?

4. Is it raining? What do you notice about the answers to these questions?

Think Tank!


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To make a ‘yes/no’ question, you simply reverse the order of the subject-verb or subject-auxiliary verb that you would use in a statement e.g. I can play football. � Can I play football? e.g. It is sunny. � Is it sunny?

B) Negative Questions Negative questions show your expectation and can demonstrate surprise. By asking a question in this way, it shows you expect the opposite to be true. They are phrased in a way which shows you expect the answer to be ‘no’, although it can be ‘yes’ if your expectation is wrong. Tt 1.3 To form negative questions you put the auxiliary verb first. The auxiliary verb changes in accordance with the subject and time, depending on 1st / 2nd / 3rd person, plural, past / present etc. (I expect it to be raining)

• It is raining = statement

• Is it raining? = positive question – swap the position of subject and verb

• Isn’t it raining? = negative question – just add ‘not’ to the verb,

• NOTE: This is always abbreviated to n’t in spoken English

What is similar about all these questions? How is each one negative?

• Isn’t it raining?

• Doesn’t Gemechu like oranges?

• Can’t Halima play football?

• Weren’t you told about the meeting?

• Won’t they come tomorrow?

• Didn’t she drink coffee?

Think Tank!


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Activity 19 Use the following sentence frames to create full statements and produce negative and positive questions by changing the verb to include an auxiliary verb. Then add the negative. The first one is shown as an example:

1. You live in Addis Ababa. (Do) Do you live in Addis Ababa?

Don’t you live in Addis Ababa?

2. The answer at the back of the book. (Is?)

_______________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________

3. You get the last question right. (Can?)

_______________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________

4. You very interested in the energy crisis. (Are?)

_______________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________

5. We type out what we have written. (Could?)

_______________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________

6. It help if we switched the lights off. (Might?)

_______________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________

7. You have enough time to do it before the bell went. (Did?)

_______________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________

Can you think of any more examples of negative or positive questions of your own? What do you notice about the position of the verb in the question? Such questions are especially useful for checking comprehension. For example, having explained a grammatical point, you may ask, “Have you understood?

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Microteach 12 Practise asking ‘yes/no’ and negative questions in pairs. Then follow the microteaching guidelines to teach this to your ‘students’.


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C) Rebound Questions Where a pupil answers a question that you wish to query, or indicate that it is wrong and prompt a correct answer, or give him/her more time to consider what he/she says, echoing his/her statement can be very useful:

Pupil: Ato Debebe lives in Adama. Teacher: Does he? / Ato Debebe lives in Adama, does he? Tt1.4

The same purpose is served by phrases such as

• Are you sure?

• Do you really think so? etc.

Even if the pupil is right, giving them the chance to think about their statement or opening it to the class to consider can boost active learning. It also gives the teacher a good opportunity for praise. Activity 20 In pairs, practice asking rebound questions. Person A should make a statement and then person B query it – try to follow the examples above if you are stuck. Then switch. See if you can make up your own examples of statement and question.

MT 2

Microteach 13 Follow the microteaching guidelines at the beginning of the module to teach this to your ‘students’. Remember to give them verbal examples. When they have had a chance to practice you could ask them for their examples too.

What do you notice about the verb formation in a rebound question? Where is the verb placed in the sentence?

• It’s cold, is it?

• She likes tea, does she?

• He can come tomorrow, can he?

• You knew about the football match, did you?

Think Tank!

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D) ‘Or’ Questions (Alternatives Questions) Like ‘Yes/No’ questions, ‘Or’ questions imply a limited choice of answers – the respondent has to choose 1 thing or the other. The response is usually a word or phrase from the question itself. Such questions are formed in the same way as yes/no questions, but two or more final choices are included (tea or coffee, relatives or friends, etc.). ‘Or’ questions are usually formed with the auxiliary verb first, followed by the subject and main verb. Activity 21

1. Reply to these ‘or’ questions: o Is it hot or cold in here? o Are you married or single? o Do you teach at a primary or secondary school?

2. Look at the following examples of ‘or’ questions. They are all different

ways of phrasing the same thing: a. Did Halima or Senia score the goal? b. Did Halima score the goal or Senia? c. Did Halima score the goal or did Senia score? d. Who scored the goal, Halima or Senia?

3. Now try to write your own ‘or’ questions and ask a colleague. Use the

examples in the Think Tank above if you are stuck for ideas. a) b) c) d)

Look at these questions. What is your response to these questions?

• Do you prefer tea or coffee?

• Are they relatives or just friends?

• Will you walk or go by taxi?

• Did she go to high school in Harar or Robe?

• Do you watch TV or play tennis on the weekends? What do you notice about the words you use for your answers? What does this tell you about one of the important features of an ‘or’ question?

Think Tank!

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4. Using the following sentences, ask ‘or’ questions. Use the choice given

in brackets and use two of Question 2’s format (indicated by the letter.) The first one is shown as an example:

1. He gets up at 10 o’clock on Sundays (11 o’clock) (a, d)

(a) Does he get up at 10 o’clock or 11 o’clock on Sundays? (d) What time does he get up on Sundays, 10 o’clock or 11 o’clock?

2. Ato Geleta is painting the table (Ato Fita) (b, c) (b) Is Ato Geleta painting the table or ________?

(c) ____________________________________?

3. She reads a book on Saturday afternoon. (Goes for a walk) (a, b) (a)____________________________________________?

(b) ____________________________________________?

4. Zahar likes Abebe’s dog better. (Mine) (a, d) (a)_________________________________________?

(d)_________________________________________?

E) Factual ‘WH-‘ Questions / Information Questions

Read these questions:

• What do you usually drink?

• Where did you study?

• How long have they known each other?

• When are you coming?

Microteach 14 Follow the microteaching guidelines at the beginning of the module to teach ‘Or’ questions to your ‘students’ and give them an opportunity to practice. How else could you explain this?

Can you think of a difference between these questions and the preceding ones?

Think Tank!


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When you form ‘Wh-‘ questions, you need to use ‘Wh-‘ words like ‘When…?’, ‘Where…?’, ‘Who…?’ etc. The word order remains similar to the yes/no question types:

‘Wh’ + auxiliary verb + subject + main verb

Which + do + you + prefer?

These kinds of questions are important as they can be used to extract information. In negative ‘Wh-‘ questions, the auxiliary verb must appear in its contracted form:

When can’t he play football? What haven’t the boys done?

Activity 22 Rearrange the parts of these sentences to form meaningful questions.

1. a / sandwich / is / like / what ________________________________________________________ 2. look / like / did / what / it ________________________________________________________ 3. sound / did / it / how ________________________________________________________ 4. the / board / cleaned / who ________________________________________________________

IMPORTANT: ‘Why’ and ‘How’ questions are also constructed in the same way but usually these both invite more open answers: they are opinion or explanation based, not just factual Why …? Because… How…? By…

What? Thing / Action

Where? Place

When? Time

Who? Person / People

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F) Echo Questions If you don’t hear a reply or are surprised by it, the echo-question can be used. This can be similar to rebound questions or can be used to ask someone to repeat their answer. Teacher: How old is Senait? Pupil: Ten Teacher: Pardon? How old is she? Here, ‘how’ acts as a ‘wh-‘ question. In each ‘Echo’ question, the ‘wh-‘ word is usually emphasised to make the topic of your question clear. It can also be the subject, however, if you are clarifying the topic of your question e.g. Where did she go? = emphasis on the place Where did she go? = emphasis on a specific person In these questions the inflection rises – this can turn a statement into a question too. This could be shown in writing by using two question marks (??). Activity 23 Look at the following echo questions. Can you work out what the original statement might have been? What does the echo question imply?

• He did what?

• She went to Nairobi??

• Sorry? How much is it?

• I beg your pardon? When did it happen? Notice that there are sometimes additional ‘apology’ questions to show that you are questioning what someone has said without being rude. ‘Apology’ questions could include

• Sorry?

• Excuse me?

• Pardon? These also act as requests for the speaker to repeat what they have said.

Microteach 15 Follow the microteaching guidelines at the beginning of the module to teach ‘Wh-‘ questions. You could give your ‘students’ a topic and tell them to ask the questions to find out the facts using ‘who’, ‘what’, ‘when’ or ‘where’. Make sure they ask full questions! e.g. A robbery has taken place e.g. Someone has got married e.g. A meal is being prepared

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G) Subject Questions Subject questions focus speakers onto the topic. Tt1.7 Where the ‘Wh-‘ word refers to the subject of the sentence, you find the same word order of structure as a statement (a normal sentence) Subject – verb – object The girl – kicked – the ball Replies to subject questions can be full or shortened: Question: Who arrived late? Answer 1: The boys arrived late. Answer 2: The boys did. Answer 3: The boys. This is because the question makes it clear what is being discussed. Answers 2 and 3 address the subject of the question without having to repeat key words. This is an important feature of fluent spoken English.

H) Checking Questions Here, questions are used to prompt students to give answers which show whether they have understood the facts of the lesson. Look at this lesson transcript:

Teacher Look [pointing to table] – is this made of wood? Students Yes. Teacher [pointing to wall] What about this? Is it made of wood? Students No, it isn’t. Teacher What is it made of? Students It is made of mud.

�� What sort of questions is the teacher using the check her students’ understanding? How else does she engage the students’ interest?

What is the subject (focus) of these questions?

• Who lives in Egypt?

• What frightened the mouse?

• Who knows the answer?

• Who saw him?

Think Tank!


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Activity 24 Imagine that you have taught each of these words or phrases to your students: Wide / narrow, inside / outside, far from, depend on

1. Using the transcript to give you some ideas, write down one or two questions you could ask in class to check that students understand each word or phrase. You may use ‘Yes/No’ or ‘Wh-‘ questions.

2. In pairs, take turns to practise asking and answering the questions you have written. Do you need to change any parts of the questions?

I) Real Classroom Questions Many natural classroom situations arise that give you an opportunity to ask real questions that you have already practised. If you ask such questions in English, it will help the students to feel that language is real, not just something in a textbook.

Strategies To Help Boost Confidence in Teachers

Don’t worry if you don’t always feel confident using English – it is important to try! Some ideas to help you remember in class are:

• Write common questions up on posters and display on the walls of your classroom

• Keep a sheet of the beginning of common question phrases on your desk

o What is…? Who can tell me…? Etc.

• Challenge your students to translate your question from Afan-Oromo or Amharic into English – this could be a way of stretching more able students in a large class and gives you an opportunity for praise and recognition

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HELP!

In pairs, discuss what questions you ask in these situations:

A. It’s a hot day and all the windows are closed. B. One of your students looks pale and tired. C. Several students are absent today. D. You forget where you stopped in the last lesson.

Think Tank!


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Longer Answers In some situations you need to ask open-ended questions that prompt long answers. This encourages students to develop their skills in the target language because a short, one-word answer isn’t enough – and this also encourages them to speak more fluently in the target language. One possible way of eliciting long answers is by giving a short ‘prompt’ with commands or booster-questions which help give students more ideas:

Teacher: Tell me about your day. Student: Well, I get up early, at about seven o’clock… Teacher: What about breakfast? Student: I have quite a small breakfast, usually just a piece of bread and some tea…

Another possible way is by asking more general questions which would naturally lead to a longer answer – make sure you leave enough time for students to think about this before expecting them to start speaking!

Teacher What do you do in the morning? Student Well, I get up at seven o’clock, then I have breakfast…

Weaker students will need shorter questions and you could give a simple drawing on the board to help them understand. Questioning Strategies As well as knowing what question to ask, you need to learn how to address your questions to your target students. You may ask individual students or you may ask the class in general. Look at the following four transcripts and consider how the teacher invites a response: 1. Teacher: What’s this made of? Anyone? Students: Wood.

Microteach 16 Follow the microteaching guidelines at the beginning of the module to practise getting longer responses from your ‘students’.

• Choose a simple topic (A typical weekend? Ethiopian cooking? Football?) – your aim as a ‘teacher’ is to get your ‘students’ telling you something about the subject so don’t make it too difficult!

• The group may want to take it in turns so that each person has a chance to practise.


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2. Teacher: What’s this made of? Mohamed? Mohamed: It’s made of wood. 3. Teacher Kemal, what’s this made of? Kemal It’s made of wood. 4. Teacher What is this made of? Yes, Samira? Samira It’s made of wood. Activity 25

1. In pairs, reflect on what has been discussed regarding questioning. Use the three questions below as a guide.

1. Can you make a distinction between the four ways of asking questions?

2. Which of these strategies does your teacher use in your class? Which one is used most often?

3. What are the advantages and disadvantages of each strategy? Think about how the group can be involved or use their time for each one.

2. In 4’s, consider which strategies

• Help the teacher to control the class

• Help to keep the attention of the whole class

• Give good students a chance to show their knowledge

• Give weak or shy students a chance to answer

• Give lazy students a chance not to answer. You may think that one strategy is best. However, you should remember that there is no single best strategy and teachers will always need to use a range of approaches for each class. You also need to bear in mind that there are different strengths and weaknesses to each strategy and you should therefore be flexible in your use of the different question types.

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• How can the teacher prevent one student from dominating the class?

• How can the teacher keep the majority of students involved in the discussion?

• What other suggestions can your group make?

• How does this vary according to the context? Age? Group size? Topic?

Think Tank!


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Questions on Specific Events/Topics There are many different ways that you may ask questions relating to a specific event, such as asking for a description, asking about an event, asking for reasons or purposes or asking for evidence. 1. Asking for a Description (‘Like’)

Look at the following examples

• What is ice-cream like? Ice-cream is yellowish

• What is the book like? It’s interesting

‘Like’ may precede any relative clause but it is often found at the end of the question, even after fairly long relatives:

• What was the book like that you bought last week?

• What was the book you bought last week like? ‘Like’ can refer to similarities. It can also mean ‘how’ something is, or its condition.

2. Asking About an Event

Look at the following example: Event: Abebe opened the door. Questions: 1. Who opened the door?

2. What did Kedir open? 3. What did Semira do? 4. What happened?

In questions 2, 3 and 4, less information is available to the person who is asked the question if all they know is the event. Questions making use of events are very useful since they produce complete sentences in a wholly natural way. These should be taught at an early stage: questions where there is not one set answer help students to be creative and think for themselves.

How do these questions and answers use ‘like’? What did it sound like? It sounded interesting. What did it look like? It looked modern. What did it feel like? It felt strange. How did it look? It looked sandy. How did it taste? It tasted like milk.

How did it smell? It smelt like a rose. You might have spotted that Q4 doesn’t even use the word ‘like’. It’s just implied by the answer!

Think Tank!


What is happening in the picture? Who is saying what? Be creative! Which book does the man want to buy?

3. Asking for Reasons and Purposes

Look at the following examples – what differences can you identify?

• What are they waiting at the traffic lights for?

• What are they waiting for at the traffic lights? Although both these questions could refer to the same thing, the difference in nuance means that the first question implies impatience (‘Why are they waiting at the lights? Hurry up!’) and the second question suggests that there is an obstacle (‘What is in their way at the lights?) Note the following:

1. ‘What…for’ is extremely common in asking about purpose. It is not often used in the classroom because it seems impatient.

2. ‘For’ must occupy the final position, otherwise the meaning changes:

i. For what are they singing? – For money

ii. What are they singing for? – Because they like it

3. ‘Why’ and ‘What…for’ are frequently interchangeable but not always – if in doubt, use ‘Why’ phrasing instead.

4. ‘Why not?’ cannot be replaced by ‘What not – for?’

When might you need to ask for reasons or purposes in the classroom?

o Behaviour? o Reasoning?

Think Tank!


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4. Asking for Evidence When asking for evidence, you want to get reasons from your students about a situation, why somebody did something or on how something happened. Look at the following examples of different ways of asking for evidence. Each ‘evidence’ answer would usually start with ‘Because…’ to explain the reason.

Teacher Is Ali tired? Pupil Yes, he is. Teacher How do you know? Because… How can you tell? Because… Why do you think so? Because… What makes you think that? Because…

Activity 26 If you were micro-teaching these techniques, how would you introduce each one?

1. In pairs, discuss asking the different sorts of questions for each purpose. How could you vary the examples for your own class?

2. Write down the 3 or 4 main points students would need to understand. Reasoning and ‘Open-ended’ Questions When an ‘open-ended’ question is asked, teachers may be inviting students to think for themselves and give answers based on opinions.

• Why do you think that …?

• How does it …?

• What makes you think …?

• In what way could it …? There are similar phrases to show reasoning in students’ answers:

• In case = conditional e.g. ‘if’

• In order to = purposeful e.g. ‘to achieve’

• Because = as a result of

• So that = intentional – similar to ‘In order to’

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Complete the sentences using the words / phrases in the list.

1. He came to class _______________ to learn. 2. She missed class _______________ she was sick. 3. He phoned home _____________ he could tell his mother the

news. 4. She left early _____________ she missed the bus

in case / in order to / because / so that

Think Tank!


Answers to Express Personal Feeling You might ask, ‘How are you today?” Sometimes students (and teachers!) need to express their own personal feelings, whether pleasant or unpleasant. Activity 27

1. Using your own knowledge, a dictionary or the glossary at the back of this booklet, add the face and arms to each blank stick-man to show how he (or she!) is feeling. The first one is shown as an example. It includes a ‘+’ or ‘–‘ to show if it’s a positive or negative feeling. You could add a definition in your own words.

Ecstatic +

Really, really pleased

Excited

Fed up / sick and tired

Contented

Inspired

Depressed

Cheerful

Enthusiastic

Confused / mixed-up

Delighted

Thrilled

Apprehensive

Grateful

Cross

Worried

Miserable

Anxious

Upset

Discontented

Nervous

Can you add your own?

2. How many questions can you create to get these emotions or feelings as an answer?

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3. Choose the best adjectives from those given below to complete each of the sentences which follow. (There could be more than one answer.)

enthusiastic cross discontented confused thrilled fed-up upset frustrated depressed

a. I didn’t know who was telling the truth. I felt totally _____________.

b. Some mothers are _____________ for several months after the birth of a baby.

c. I think she is bad-tempered because she is ____________. She wanted to

be an actress and not a school-teacher.

d. Although he seems to have everything anyone could possibly want, he is still ______________.

e. He went mountain-climbing for the first time last month, but now he is so

____________ about it that he can talk of little else.

f. My baby sister gets very ____________ by the evening if she doesn’t have an afternoon sleep.

g. This rainy weather has gone on for so long, I feel really __________.

h. He was terribly _____________ when he heard the news about his friend.

i. She was ____________ when she learned she had won 1st prize.

Microteach 17 Follow the microteaching guidelines at the beginning of the module to teach different ways of expressing feelings. You could do this in different ways:

• Repetition

• Getting ‘students’ to mime the meaning

• Asking students to make up a simple story, one sentence each at a time, to include as many different ‘feeling’ adjectives as possible

• Look – cover – write meaning – check for independent learning. You would need to choose only 5 or 6 words at a time for this.


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Idioms and Metaphors Sometimes we can use idioms to show our feelings. Sometimes this means exaggerating something to tell listeners how much we feel about it. It also means we use phrases that are not literally true – they are a metaphor. The crowd roared as he kicked the winning goal ‘Roared’ is a verb used about animals but here it demonstrates how loud and uncontrolled the crowd might be – there are no words! Idioms describing feelings or moods can be positive: Everyone seemed to be in high spirits. (lively) Halina is as happy as the day is long. (extremely content) They can also show or stress negative moods: Mohammed is in a sour mood. (a bad mood and very mean) She certainly looked down in the dumps (fed up, depressed) Activity 28 In pairs, rally ideas for idioms in your own first language. How do these translate into English? What other colloquialisms can you identify? Try to look in a good dictionary or thesaurus to find other English idioms or to see if your idioms are similar to those of another culture. You might be surprised at some of the differences!

Can you guess what the following idiomatic expressions mean? Can

you identify an adjective which means something similar? 1. I’m boiling. I’m very, very hot! 2. I’m dying of thirst. ? 3. I’m freezing. ? 4. I’m starving. ? 5. I’m worn out. ?

Think Tank!

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GLOSSARY OF TERMS & ACTIVITIES Adjective A word which describes a noun

Auxiliary verb The ‘helping’ verb in a statement – this is often a

conditional verb (could / might / would etc.) or part of ‘to be’, ‘to have’ or ‘to do’ to create the past tense e.g. I don’t like oranges You could help me if…

Brainstorm Saying or writing down whatever comes to mind in single or very brief words that are connected to a central idea. These are usually written in a circle in the middle of the space on the page.

Colloquialism An informal or slang way of expressing something e.g. I’ll be there in a tic = I’ll be there very soon

Discourse Marker

These help give structure, both in writing and speech. A discourse marker can show time, place, frequency etc. and is usually an adverbial phrase. Unless it is used with the main verb, the phrase forms a subordinate clause e.g. adding extra information to the main statement in a sentence: Although it’s raining, it’s good for the crops Examples of discourse markers are ‘often,...’; ‘sometimes,...’; ‘round the corner…’; after lunch,…’; ‘However,…’ ‘Additionally…’ etc.

High Five When a partner gives an ‘air’ clap to the other person in their pair – right hand to right hand, often as a celebration!

Imperative An ‘imperative’ is a command (e.g. imperious, imperial). To make an imperative

• drop the subject

• use the 2nd person verb form

• add the object e.g. Put it there; tell me why; give them food etc.

Inflection Tone of voice e.g. for a question, it will rise towards the end of what you say. He did what? – on ‘what’, the tone will become higher

Micro-teaching See guidelines in the introduction: working in groups of 4 with revolving, assigned roles of teacher, language secretary and students. It is very important for this activity that students follow exactly what the ‘teacher’ tells them to do – students mustn’t use their own ideas or understanding of tasks if this activity is to be of the


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greatest usefulness for reflective learning and discussion. Noun A thing/object. A proper noun (person or place) uses a

capital letter, e.g. Yassin or Addis Ababa. A noun can also be intangible e.g. an emotion (love), belief (religion) etc.

Rally Saying or writing down single or very brief words connected with the central idea, usually written in a circle in the middle of the space on the page.

Relative clause Showing how a phrase connects to the main statement This often includes ‘…that…’ or ‘…which…’

Subject The ‘do-er’ or person/thing who does the main verb e.g. The girl wrote fast. A goat bleated loudly. They walked away

Think Tank! Usually involves students working reflectively either individually or in pairs to share ideas based on previous knowledge or experience


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GLOSSARY: FEELINGS AND EMOTIONS Pleasant and unpleasant feelings:

Anxious When you are afraid and uncertain about the future

Apprehensive When you are slightly nervous or anxious

Cheerful When life is looking quite bright and positive

Confused /

mixed-up

When you cannot make sense of different confusing feelings

or ideas. Mixed-up is more informal.

Contented When you are peaceful and satisfied with what you have

Cross When you are angry or bad-tempered

Delighted When something has happened that gives you great please,

when you hear of someone’s good fortune

Depressed When you are miserable over a long period of time.

(Depression is considered an illness in some severe cases.)

Discontented When your life is not giving you satisfaction

Ecstatic When you are madly in love or are spiritually uplifted for some

reason

Enthusiastic When you have very positive feelings about something e.g. a

new project in your home town

Excited When you are expecting something special to happen, e.g.

before a party or before a meeting with someone special

Fed up / sick

and tired

When you have had enough of something disagreeable. You

could be fed up with someone’s rudeness or sick and tired of

waiting for the meeting to start.

Grateful When someone has done you a favour

Inspired When you are stimulated to be creative. You might feel

inspired after listening to some very powerful music, perhaps,

or you might be inspired to action by a friend.

Miserable When everything seems wrong in your life

Nervous When you are afraid or anxious about something that is about

to or may happen. Nervous is a bit like feeling excited but it is

a negative feeling whereas excitement is positive.

Thrilled When something extremely exciting and pleasing happens

Upset When something unpleasant has happened to disturb you. (It

often combines feelings of both sadness and anger.)

Worried When anxious thoughts are constantly going through your

head


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GLOSSARY: PREPOSITIONS Your own

definition (or picture!)

Others that you found

Your own definition (or picture!)

Above

Afterwards

Around

Backwards

Before

Behind

(in-)Between

Forward

In front of

Leftwards

Near

Next to

On the right

Through

Underneath


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Bibliography Brown GD (1994) Teaching by Principle Harmer J (2006) The Practice of English Language Teaching Hedge T (2000) Teaching and Learning in the Classroom Hughes G (1981) A Handbook of Classroom English Nunan D (1989) Designing Tasks for the Communicative Classroom Slattery & Wilis (2001) English for Primary Teachers Plus ELID publications, Ministry of Education, Ethiopia

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